The Psychoanalytical Foundations of Atheism (or...It's All Your Dad's Fault You're an Atheist)

While searching the web for some funny atheist humor with which to tag my friends, I came across this article (see below). As a person with a graduate-level background in psychology, I was particularly fascinated with the way this "Christian Philosopher" explained how people become atheists. All I can say is...Freud would have a fit if he was alive today!! Enjoy! :)

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100318/christian-philosopher-explores-causes-of-atheism/index.html

Quotes of the Day:

"The God-Creator is openly called Father. Psychoanalysis concludes that he really is the father, clothed in the grandeur in which he once appeared to the small child.... The emotional strength of this memory-image and the lasting nature of his need for protection are the two supports for [the religious man's] belief in God."

"Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing the personal one."

--Sigmund Freud

Two Mass-ive Scandals for the Vatican

The following Daily Show clip illustrates quite clearly (yet again), the utter hypocrisy, foolishness, and danger posed by this titan of religious organizations. How is it that followers so willingly accept that their spiritual leader is infallible when practices that he  condones (or at the very least does not act upon) violate not only the same religious dogma he represents and to which he demands adherence, but also violate nearly universal standards for moral/ethical behavior?

For my part, I could care less about what consenting adults do behind closed doors--with or without pay--but I have a major problem with adults behaving in the same way with children.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-march-16-2010/holy-sh-t

Quote of the Day:

"Of all possible sexual perversions, religion is the only one to have been scientifically systematized."

--Louis Aragon

U.S. History, Texas-style

Recently, the Huffington Post ran an article about the latest round of public school textbook standards adoption controversy occurring in the state of Texas. Apparently, the ultra right-wing Christian conservatives on the board overseeing the standards for that state have made it their personal mission to rewrite American history, government, and even economics to suit their own factually distorted, religious worldviews.

The reason I bother to pass this information on, despite the fact that I do not live in Texas or have children who will attend the public schools there, is that as the largest consumer of public school textbooks in the country, what happens to textbooks and/or curricular standards in Texas influences textbooks/curricula for the rest of the country. To see what changes have been initially approved by the Board, follow the link below. It's enough to knock the powder right out of your wig.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#s73775

Quote of the Day:

"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States...practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government is essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States."

--James Madison

The Flintstones is NOT a Documentary

I stumbled across this YouTube video of Lewis Black, which I found to be pretty funny, so I thought I'd share.



Quotes of the Day:


"The only way we can determine the true age of the earth is for God to tell us what it is. And since He has told us, very plainly, in the Holy Scriptures that it is several thousand years in age, and no more, that ought to settle all basic questions of terrestrial chronology."


--Henry M. Morris


"In retrospect, this magazine's converage of so-called evolution has been hideously one-sided... Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon?... As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence...Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do. Indeed, if politicians or special-interest groups say things that seem untrue or misleading, our duty as journalists is to quote them without comment or contradiction. To do otherwise would be elitist and therefore wrong."


--Scientific American, Editorial, April 2005

Just One More Example of the Wisdom of Our Founding Fathers

Despite the Religious Wrong's hijacking of America's Founding Fathers for their own narrow purposes, (i.e., the indignant claim that the U.S. was founded on the basis of Judeo-Christian values, and therefore all law should be based on Scripture), the writings of many of these learned men and great thinkers speak rather frankly about their true intentions regarding religion's role in government--both in terms of its founding and functioning. I have provided the following few examples before, but I think they bear reiterating, given the kinds of crazy-ass public appeals some elected officials (and many a pundit on Fox and elsewhere) are making with regard to important Federal legislation.

"The United States of America is in no sense founded on the Christian religion."
--John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli (1797)


"In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty, he is always in allegiance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own... History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government... Political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves [of public ignorance] for their own purpose."


"State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights...  Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society."
--Thomas Jefferson

The Daily Show has done many segments in the past regarding the inappropriateness of religion in government. I personally find satire one of the absolute best ways to illuminate just how dangerous it is for all of us when religion crosses into the realm of government. Here is the latest regarding health care reform.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-4-2010/the-med-menace

You Just Can't Compete Against Jesus

This past weekend, my school district held their Golden Apple Teacher of the Year awards banquet. Amazingly, 2 of the 5 finalists were teachers with whom I work. One in particular is a young man who teaches the Emotionally/Behaviorally Disordered middle schoolers in a self-contained class. He is very devoted to his kids and is a really great teacher.

Well, unfortunately (in my biased opinion), this particular teacher didn't win. The guy who won is a music teacher who claimed that he never wanted to even go into teaching until Jesus "opened his eyes" and showed him "the way." Now, whether he is a more exceptional teacher than my colleague I leave to the judgment of the panel who evaluated each finalist, but as another colleague pointed out to me on Monday morning, "You just can't compete against Jesus."

Quote of the Day:

"Bribes, believe me, buy both gods and men."

--Ovid

Atheist Humor--Part 3: Signs of the Times

And my personal favorite.....

Religious Views of Life

Taoism

Shit happens.

Confucianism

Confucius says shit happens.

Buddhism

If shit happens, it isn't really shit.

Zen

What is the sound of shit happening?

Hinduism

This shit happened before.

Hare Krishna

Shit happens, rama lama ding-dong.

Islam

If shit happens, take a hostage.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Knock, knock....shit happens.

Catholicism

If shit happens, you deserve it.

Protestantism

Let shit happen to someone else.

Judaism

Why does this shit always happen to us?

Rastafarianism

Let's smoke this shit!!

Agnosticism

What is this shit?

Atheism

I don't believe this shit.